Flammie and Glory 4: Fur will Fly
by shadowlugia249
Summary: A Flammie TF. Part 2 of the Fit for a God story, a young teenager answers a strange call from an unknown caller. When he answers it, he receives an egg from a creature called a Flammie. But when it hatches, he seems to be protecting a wanted creature...


**Flammie and Glory 4: Fur will Fly**

_By shadowlugia249_

Author's Note: After the success of my "Fit for a God 3" stories, I couldn't leave it at that. So this special "Flammie and Glory" story is the next chapter in the series. You may see some familiar faces while others will be brand new. Enjoy!

Have you ever wanted to take back something you knew that you did wrong? I'm not talking about little things like breaking a window with a baseball or dumping your girlfriend or even lying to your parents about a missing assignment. I mean the things that show up that forever changed your life. I'm talking bona fide, unlucky, everybody-loses screw-ups like punching out the guy who steals your girlfriend or having one too many to drink and end up breaking your neck in a car crash. Or in my case, the day I decided to go out for a walk and ended up taking home...

But I'm rambling on again. Not one day has gone by when I don't think how my life could have turned out if I hadn't met... forget it. If you want to know what's bothering me, I guess I'd better start at the beginning. It was a day that forever changed not only _my_ life, but the fate of humanity as we knew it. I just wish I had had a choice...

My name is Rye Amaldo and _boy,_ am I bored! Bored, bored, _bored!_ I was living on my own on the outskirts of Willmar, Minnesota in a house that I had inherited from my parents. I had no job, no car and no video games to play like most people would. All I would do all day was watch my basic local channels and watch my limited selection of movies an endless number of times.

My life was one big drag. My parents kept me supported just enough for me to get by during the long days alone at home. My girlfriend had dumped me because I couldn't afford her expensive lifestyle. I had no computer or even a DVD player. All I would do all day was watch reruns on TV and wish for a better life. In fact, the only connection I had with the outside world was a small cell phone stockpiled with minutes because I hardly used it. My parents would normally call me to check up on me, but I soon realized why they kept me at such a stand-still. I was the oldest of my brother and two sisters, but they never really paid attention to me. I had reason to believe that the moment I turned 18, they abandoned me by giving me this two-bit house and almost walking out on my life. They wouldn't even take me back to their own house without paying an astronomical rent price. For crying out loud! I had to _pay_ to live in the house I grew up in! It was certainly a sad time for me.

But against all odds, I did not give up on myself. I felt that there was something in my life that was worth living for, but I didn't know what it was. I felt that my life could mean something to someone special out there, but so far, I haven't met them...

...until the day I got a strange voice mail message on my cell phone. I was watching my "Fat Albert" movie for the umpteenth time when my cell phone suddenly went off. It read: "Help me! From (unknown)"

I thought that it was just spam, but then I realized that there _was_ no spam on cell phones, so I figured that it was worth a listen to. Accessing my messages, I listened to the caller.

"Can anyone hear me?" It sounded female, but there was something about its voice that sounded... different somehow. "I've been calling around for someone to help me! Please listen! I'm about to have a baby, but I need someone to take care of it! If you believe me, then come to--" It gave an address that I thought was phony before I realized that it was up in the caves near my house. "I'm begging you! Find me before _he_ does! You're my only hope!" The message suddenly cut out and I was left with mixed emotions.

That had been the weirdest call I had _ever_ gotten. I knew for a fact that _no one _announced that they were going to have a child over voice mail. It also alarmed me at the urgency of the caller's voice. It sounded like she was in pain and/or suffering. And who was "he"? Was she hiding from someone who was out to get her or what? Normally, I wouldn't have answered the call, but I was bored enough to do anything that involved getting out of the house. So against my better judgment, I left the house and headed for the address the woman had used.

There really wasn't much out here. The ground was rather rocky and the hills were next to impossible to climb. But that didn't stop me whatsoever. In an effort to keep myself occupied, I had traversed these hills on numerous occasions and I even knew of the address that the woman had used in the message. It was a cave high up on the ridge that I had been to on multiple occasions but had never found anything before. How a pregnant woman could climb all the way up here and make a call to _my_ cell phone was beyond me.

I made it to the cave relatively easily. It was the entrance that posed the problem. A large boulder had covered a majority of the opening as if it had always been there, which it hadn't. I had no idea how a boulder of this size and weight could just appear on a cliff this high up and block this particular entrance when there was nothing of this size any higher up.

But all was not lost. There was a hole in the top that appeared large enough for me to crawl through. The only problem would be climbing back out, but at the moment, I wasn't thinking about that. I climbed up the boulder and wormed my way feet first through the opening. I slid onto the cavern floor a good seven feet down and looked around.

Because the boulder was now blocking the entrance, it was much harder to see what was in here. The small shaft of sunlight was only lighting this place enough for me to see a few feet into the cavern. But I had gotten used to the dark from other caverns, and I knew this cave like the back of my hand, so I carried on without hesitation.

A few yards in, I froze. I had heard something in here that shouldn't have been. There was something not right here, but I couldn't see what it was. Taking slow, shallow breaths, I listened hard to my surroundings. Whatever was in here must have heard me because it stopped moving. But when I started moving again, it did as well. And when I stopped, it did likewise.

Finally, I couldn't help myself. "Hello?! Is anything in here?!" The echo that normally sounded in this cave fell flat as _something_ let out a weak, musical cry.

My heart was racing as I backed up a little, but the further I got, the more frantic the presence got. I was about to head back for the entrance when I heard something that was not even remotely possible.

"Please... don't go..." Now panicking slightly, I grabbed a rock that had tumbled in when the cavern had been sealed.

"Stay back! I'm armed!"

But whatever was in here sounded weak and alone. "I'm not going to hurt you... Please... help me."

Holding the rock above my head, I inched back towards the voice. It was a tense moment for me along with the figure in here.

"Who are you?" I said, stopping abruptly. "Did you call me?"

The figure seemed to chirp slightly and I heard it respond. "Yes... I called everyone I could... but you are the only one who came... Please help me..."

Now on the alert, I came carefully closer to the figure, but stopped suddenly again. A faint, furry smell of what I knew to be vanilla wafted through my nostrils. It was so pleasant and inviting that I lowered my guard and squatted down and looked in the direction of the voice.

"Are you okay? You don't sound too good."

Suddenly, the figure let out a strangled wail like a cat being tortured. I backed off a little before it answered.

"Please don't leave me! You're the only one I have! I'm all alone here!"

I advanced forward towards the figure and I suddenly felt a sudden warmness hit me. Whatever it was was emitting a _lot_ of heat. I didn't know it, but I was just _inches_ from running into it.

"I won't leave you. I just wish that I could _see_ you."

"I'm sorry... but my fire has gone out from a lack of moonlight. Otherwise, I would light a fire for you."

This was a little confusing, but I did my best to be with it. "That's okay. You can rest. Now, what did you say about having a child?"

I suddenly felt a large, heavy, furry object place itself in my hands. I blanched when I realized that there was an animal the size of or bigger than a lion in here, but I forced myself to be calm. I didn't want to alarm her in her time of need.

"I'm pregnant. I'm going to be laying my eggs very shortly. I just needed someone here to be with me. Don't be alarmed," she said, sensing my panicked expression. "I will not harm you."

I did my best to comfort this unseen beast by stroking its paw gently. By now, I had grown used to the dark, and in the limited light shining into the cavern, I could make out the outline of a _very_ large creature attached to the paw. I had never trusted an animal before, but there was something about _this_ one that made me feel safe and secure. After I had come to comfort her in her time of need, I was certain that she would not turn on me.

"Thanks... so... do you have a name?"

I could have sworn that she had smiled at me. "Seryn... my name is Seryn."

"Seryn... it's a very beautiful name."

I could feel the heat radiating from Seryn intensify as she appeared to be blushing. "No one's ever told me that before. You are a very noble gentleman. My Flamelets will like you just fine."

"Oh... kay..."

She realized that she had gone a little far and looked away from me. I couldn't make out her eyes, but they appeared to be slightly embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I'm jumping the gun. You probably don't know the first thing about Flammies."

""Flame-mees"?" The word was alien to me.

Seryn sighed and turned back to look at me. She raised her paw to touch my face and I allowed her to do it. She had some of the softest fur I had ever felt before. Combined with her lighter-than-air touch and it was like an angel was caressing you.

"You're a strange human, Rye. I could grow to like you in time."

I was just about to ask her how she knew my name when she suddenly froze up and her paw went rigid. Her breathing became short and ragged and the heat around her became rather uncomfortable.

"Seryn? Is something wrong?" I was concerned for this friend that I had never seen before.

"It's happening...! Back up...! I don't... want you to... get hurt...!"

I did so towards the cave entrance and squatted as Seryn suddenly started thrashing wildly in her spot. She was screaming with such a shrill that I knew it did not sound human. She appeared to be in a lot of pain and I realized that she was about to give birth.

Seryn suddenly froze up and planted herself on all fours. Her back arched upwards and she started to heave and cough violently. She appeared to be regurgitating something, but it didn't appear to be coming up. Her retches and moans became more painful and violent as _something_ started to work its way up her throat. The sudden stench of fresh birth hit me like a tidal wave as a massive bulge appeared half-in and half-out of her mouth. But then she gave one more push and the "birth sac" was fully-ejected, following up with an artery that had detached somewhere deep in her gut.

I put my nose in my shirt as the massive blob sat there for a moment as Seryn collapsed. Was that normal? Did she just expel her own organ in order to give birth? I didn't have long to wait. With a sudden burst of energy, Seryn lifted herself off the cavern floor and lashed out with her talons, tearing the birth sac apart with one good slash and causing the insides of it to gush and spill into the cave.

The inside of the birth chamber smelled completely _rank,_ but only for a moment. The air was suddenly filled with the creamy-vanilla scent that Seryn gave off once again. The inside of the chamber revealed a single, foot-long, shining orb that seemed to catch even the faintest light shining into the cave. Was that...?

"Is that... an egg?"

Seryn had collapsed and was panting heavily. She was wiped out, but she still had the power to speak to me. "One...? Only one...? I thought... there were more... It's not fair... I tried..."

She rolled onto her side so that she was looking right at me. "Rye... take her... You must care for her... protect her... from Mana... do this... and I will be... forever grateful..."

"Uh... okay... I'll raise her like my own... I hope." I had never cared for a child before, much less the child of a "Flame-mee".

Seryn sighed and appeared to be smiling at me again. "You... will do... fine... now... let me sleep... sweet... peaceful... sleep..." And with another sigh, Seryn went into a deep, well-deserved sleep, leaving me alone with her egg. She looked so peaceful lying there... If I could see what she really looked like, she might have looked even more peaceful, but for now, I had a job to do. I stepped forward, trying to keep my footing light so I wouldn't splash any birth fluids on me, and picked up the egg.

But the instant I touched its cold, smooth surface, my mind was filled with an infinite whiteness and I suddenly felt short of breath. I couldn't think, but there was a second presence in there that shouldn't have been there. It was like it had been awakened by my touch and was causing me to white out. I keeled over from the shock of the mental attack and knew no more.

When I woke up again, I had no memory of my encounter with Seryn. I could not recall what I was doing last night and when I tried to think, all I could see was an infinite whiteness. I could not remember what I had been doing the previous day and for the life of me, I had no idea why I was in my bed.

When I realized what I was doing, I climbed out of bed to figure out what happened last night. But just before I touched my feet down on the floor, I slipped on something large, warm and slick, landing back on my bed and causing the object to roll away on its own.

"What the... (expletive)?!" After expressing a few choice words at the ceiling, I sat up and looked for the offending object. What I saw nearly made my jaw fall off my face.

A large, foot-long, piercing-white object was laying next to my wall, looking innocent. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. I had _never_ seen a creature lay an egg like _that_ and live.

"I'd hate to see the chicken that egg came out of," I said to myself.

Deciding to take a better look at it, I got out of bed and went to pick it up. But before I could get my hands on it, the egg gave out a faint _squeak_ turned and rolled away a few inches on its own.

Now confused, I turned and went to pick it up again. But again, it squeaked and rolled away again. Now fully annoyed, I made a grab for the egg again, but it simply rolled away, leaving me lying in a heap.

"Since when does an egg have a mind of its own?" I muttered to myself, looking for the offending object.

But the egg had vanished, but not for long. I looked outside of my room and saw the egg waiting for me in the hallway. It took off once again when it "saw" me and I chased after it in hot pursuit. It led me into the kitchen where it humored me by rolling in a circle, squeaking and chirping incessantly. By the time I arrived, it had stopped again and was looking at me from a distance.

I made to advance towards it, but it rolled off to one side. For a minute, we played a merry-go-round version of "Keep Away" before I realized that I was getting nowhere. If I hoped to catch it, I needed to trick it. Turning my back on it, I looked at it out of the corner of my eye and whistled casually. I kept it up for a minute before the egg grew curious and rolled towards me.

Bad move.

Like lightning, I pounced on the egg and seized it. But before I could get it to my level, it started shaking, quaking and chirping in a panic. It seemed that whatever was inside of it had panicked and was trying to worm its way out of my grasp. But I was determined not to let it go this time. It kept up its racket in my arms until...

_Crack!_ _Crunch!_ _Squeak._

The egg had just halted in my arms and a spider-web crack had appeared in its side. I looked at it in disbelief and stood there in amazement. It was hatching? Already?! How could it be that fully developed in such a short time and be ready to go almost instantly?

I was spared the trouble of looking for answers when the egg suddenly jerked in my hands and fell to the floor. Before I could grab it, the egg had hit the floor and it had split wide open, sending pieces of eggshell everywhere and causing a small, white furball to bounce about two inches before it landed in a heap.

"Oops." I was a little concerned for the creature's safety, but one glance at the tiny creature told me that it was all right.

The creature's fur was such a blinding-white that it made fresh snow look like dirt. It was a thing of beauty, but I needed to get a better look at it. Carefully bending down, I scooped up the furball and held it up to my eye level.

The creature was only about a foot from head to tail. And most of it WAS tail. A series of rugged, silver-shaded plates ran from its throat down its front and to the tip of its tail. It had four tiny paws that had cute, glassy-white pads on each one. On each of its forepaws, it had a set of four, clear, almost-transparent talons while its footpaws were tipped with only three. The talons looked like they were made of finely-cut diamonds and you could practically see right through them! It was really something to look at.

On the back of the creature was a pair... no... I take that back... _two_ pairs of shining-white feathery wings. The ones on its upper back were slightly bigger than the one on its lower back. Besides that, I had never seen a furred creature have _feathers_ before. Normally, only birds had feathers, but this one seemed to defy the laws of nature.

And when I looked at its face, I could have sworn that all the creatures in the world could _never_ compare to _that_ face. It was just so _cute!_ It had a short, curved, fuzzy muzzle that had a single white fang sticking out of the roof of its mouth. It had a pair of short, deer-like ears that I guessed were just as sensitive as they looked. And its mane looked like a crop of thick, untidy, glass-like hair. Just like its talons, its hair was practically see-though. It was truly something to behold.

The instant I locked eyes with its sapphire-blue irises, my mind was filled with a feeling like I was drowning in blue. My mind had gone completely blue with a kind of chaotic static flying around it. It was like it was communicating with me mentally and it was thinking in a chaotic static just like a human child did. But as I looked away, it subsided.

All the while, the curious feathered furball was looking at me with a grin that spoke volumes of its innocence. It examined me with a look that told me just how curious it was and wanted to take in the details of its new parent. And what it did do to voice its opinion?

"Ma!" it squeaked happily.

I guess it didn't mean that I was its mother, but it was so cute that I couldn't ignore that face.

"Yes, little guy. I'm your mother."

But suddenly, it gave me a look that seemed to be a frown. I flinched when it did this. Did I give it the wrong impression? Did it really know that I wasn't its real mother?

But then my troubles were relieved when it took a sudden breath and sneezed all over me! I wiped the spray out of my eyes and chuckled at it.

"You're really something else, you know that? I think you should have a name."

"Maaa!!!" cried the tiny thing, squirming in my hands. With a sudden shift in its weight, it jumped out of my hands, fluttered a little using its tiny wings and landed neatly on my head, where it pawed my hair for a moment before curling up and falling asleep.

I laughed at the tiny furball. It was really quite cuddly, but it wasn't going to work for it to sleep on top of my head.

"I kinda need that." I half-expected it to continue snoozing, but against all odds, it opened its eyes, uncurled and crawled down onto my shoulder, where it sat like a baby kitten, nuzzling my cheek affectionately.

"You're too cute for words, you know? But I think you should have a name. Hold on..."

I plucked it off my shoulder and turned it over in my hands, searching for some way to tell its gender. But other than a few annoyed whines, I was unsuccessful. It finally wormed its way out of my grasp and fluttered down to the floor. So... was it a boy or a girl? Maybe IT knew. It was worth a try.

"Do you know what you are, little fuzzball? Can you tell me?"

The pint-sized puffball turned and looked at me in a way that looked like a dog looking for attention. But that wasn't all. When I looked at it right in the eyes, the chaotic static returned to my mind, but this time, there was a definite green shade to it. It appeared to be projecting its thoughts directly to my brain somehow. I couldn't make out much any better than before, but I could "see" _something_ emerging. It appeared to be a symbol, but I couldn't make it out.

As I leaned closer to the creature, the symbol became much clearer and I was able to make it out. It looked like a circle with a cross underneath it. A quick rack of my memory banks told me that this was the universal symbol for females. So unless it was out of its mind (and I hope it wasn't for such a young thing), this clear furball was unmistakably female.

Now that I knew its gender, I could work on a name. I watched the little girl scamper off to explore my living room. It pawed lightly at my chair for a moment but then lost interest and went over to my TV. It sat back on its haunches and looked up at the picture box before it. It then let out a sudden, "FLAY!" and walked away from it.

I watched it wander around for a while before it turned a corner and went into my bedroom. Unsure what it would find, I chased after it.

The female fluffy had grabbed a corner of my blanket and appeared to be gnawing on it with its tiny fangs. Apparently, it didn't like the taste because it spit it back out and continued on. In its quest to explore my house, the creature found a gap in the bottom of my dresser that been cut during the production of it and crawled under it, disappearing from sight. It didn't come back out, which alarmed me, so I ran over to the dresser and looked under it.

"Hello? Little fella? Are you still under there?"

Nothing happened for a moment, but then out of nowhere, the thing rushed at me and gave my nose a swift lick with its tiny, flat, moist tongue. I was startled when this happened and backed off, batting at my nose like something had bitten it. But then, the tiny animal smiled and let out a small bark before crawling out on its own and coming to my side.

I looked at it in mock concern as in nuzzled up against my leg, purring gently. "I just can't take you seriously, can I?" I stroked it behind the ears and listened to it chitter somewhere in its throat. "Hey... maybe that's what I should call you."

"Flay?" It seemed to be asking me a question.

""Serious"... but I'll spell it a little different. "S-I-R-I-U-S." "Sirius". How do you like that name?"

The furry creature smiled and barked out its response. "Yay! Yaaaay!!!"

I smiled and offered it my arm to climb up. "It's settled then! From now on, your name is Sirius!"

"Seee! Seee!" It sounded like it was trying to say its name as it latched onto my shoulder.

Chuckling, I patted Sirius on the head and got up. "Okay, Sirius. Let's find you something to eat."

(Author's Note: Two points here. One: I think that "Sirius" is actually a boy's name, but there are other reasons why I picked it as a girl's name. And Two: Rye doesn't know how Flammies feed yet, so don't get on my case about it.)

Once I was back in my kitchen, I let Sirius climb into my arms as I opened the door to my fridge to see what she ate.

"Well, girl, there isn't much to work with." I scanned the shelves and voiced what there was. "We've got... grapes...?" Sirius frowned and shook her head. "Okay... how about some hot dogs?" Sirius stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry. "No? What about some noodles? I can whip you up some noodles." She let out an awkward wail that sounded like a cat being strangled. "Jeez... How about some pet food? I can go out and buy some for you." Sirius closed her eyes and let out a fake snore -- an obvious rejection. Now annoyed with her choice of food, I plucked her off my shoulder and held her up to my eye level. "Okay, wise guy, what DO you eat?"

Sirius looked at me before she started squirming in my hand, whining and sending me an annoying yellow into my head. She was obviously trying to say, "Let me go!"

I did so and set her on the counter. "Okay, show me what you eat." Sirius meandered over to the window over the sink and stopped. I figured that if it was as smart as it said it was, it would be able to tell me what it ate.

But when Sirius put its front paws on the window and looked up at the sky with longing, I drew a blank.

"What 'cha looking at?"

Sirius looked at me and said just one word: "Mon!"

""Mon"? You mean Man?" I shuddered at the thought that she was a man-eater. But to my enormous relief, she shook her head and repeated, "Mon!"

So I tried a different tack. "Money?" I don't know where I got that idea. It was the only thing that made sense. But she shook her head again and repeated the same word again: "Monnn!!!"

I took a few moments to think about this one. I followed Sirius' eyes towards the sky, where the sun was shining brightly. But the only thing I could thing of that had "mon" in it was...

"Moon?"

"Mon! Mon!" The reaction I was getting seemed to signify that Sirius was talking about the moon.

"Okay... you eat the moon..."

But this didn't fly with her. She frowned and dropped to all fours and spread her wings wide so that they were fully unfurled. She then crawled around the counter with her wings out and her tail swishing from side to side. She then stopped and flapped them for a moment, trying but failing to get airborne. When she was finished, she sat back on her haunches again and looked up at me, a feeling of need mixed with an urgent red flooding my mind.

This little display sent my mind in gear. She needed the moon somehow. And she obviously did it with her wings out. But she did it better when she finally learned how to fly. And judging from the feeling of need she was sending me, she needed this really bad. And since she couldn't fly to the moon itself, I came up with a strange yet creditable idea.

"You need the moon_light,_ right?"

Finally seeming to have gotten through to me, Sirius barked and yelped happily, ultimately leaping into my arms and licking my face with that little tongue of hers. This seemed to be her way of congratulating me for finally figuring it out.

"Oh... kay... I get it now."

Sirius simply grinned.

That night, I decided to see if all this fuss was true. At the last of the day's light, I took Sirius outside on my patio and set her on the railing surrounding it. She simply looked up at the moon with longing. I hoped she wasn't planning on flying yet, because she was still unable to heave her "massive" frame with those tiny wings.

Sirius looked at the moon for a long time with her eyes closed. Even though she wasn't in the air, I could tell that she was feeling the effects of the moonlight on her radiant fur. She was even nice enough to share some of her emotions with me via her mind link.

The feeling of pure unadulterated moonlight shining down on Sirius' tiny body was beyond words. It felt like she was filled with an infinite power and energy that only the moonlight could bring. Not a single piece of sustenance I had ever consumed could _ever_ compare to this type of "free energy".

I thought about that phrase for a moment. Since nearly the start of the human race, man has always had to work for his food. Whether it was from manual labor or gambling or scavenging, man had never once gotten a free meal. The animals didn't have it any better. They always had to work for any kind of energy that they could get to survive.

But Flammies were the first creatures I knew that could get their energy entirely for free. There was no work involved -- the moon was always in the sky. And cloud cover or no cloud cover, there was always some kind of light coming from it. And the Flammies' special bodies enabled them to soak up the rays like a sponge and distribute it throughout their bodies. What was more, the Flammies didn't need to worry about overdoing it. Their bodies seemed to know just how much they needed without stuffing themselves silly, allowing them to remain in the moonlight for the entire night if they wanted to. It was free, it was effective and it was wonderful.

Even so, I figured that it would never compare to actually absorbing the moonlight for myself. Humans didn't work that way, so I would never know. Only Flammies would ever truly experience the powers of the moon in full.

It took about ten minutes for Sirius to get enough energy to be considered full. She turned around, folded her wings and tilted her head at me, sending me a curious expression of white and gold.

"What's up, girl?" I asked.

"Flay... mee... Flay-mee... Flammie!!!"

This word finally hit home with me. I finally realized what kind of creature she was without thinking. She was a "Flammie" -- a word that I just realized was now in my vocabulary.

"Okay! You're a Flammie! What do you want from me?!"

She knew that I was playing around and leaped into my arms, where she scampered up to my shoulder and parked herself there. I suddenly realized that she had grown a little since this morning. She was about a foot long this morning, but now, she was at least 18 inches now. And she was a little heavier than before as well. Before, she weighed about as much as a newborn chick, but now, she was about as heavy as a small puppy. This wasn't much of a weight difference, but I had a gut instinct that she was nowhere _near_ as big as she could possibly get. Oh... boy!

"I'm r-r-r-really tired, Sirius," I said, failing to stifle a huge yawn. "What do you say we hit the hay?"

"Flay?" Sirius looked confused as she tilted her head whenever something made no sense.

"What? "Hit the hay"? It means hit the sack. Turn in. Crash for the night. Catch some Z's. Recharge your batteries. Visit the Dream World. Turn off your monitor. Any of this sinking in?"

Sirius merely fluttered to the railing again and rolled over on her back so I could rub her tummy. I sighed and spoke to her in a phrase that she could understand. "I'm going to bed. _Bed!_ B-E-D. I'm going to sleep!"

_Now_ she seemed to catch on. She rolled over on her front again and held up her paws for me to take her again. I sighed as I picked up the white Flammie and held her in a cradling position.

"You're hopeless, you know that? What would your mama think?"

I wasn't paying attention when Sirius's expression suddenly dropped. She seemed to be remembering something that had happened before she met me, but she couldn't' quite grasp what it was. She simply sighed and buried herself in my arms. Within seconds, she was fast asleep.

I smiled and tickled her a little. She cooed in her sleep and rolled over in my arms. I couldn't bring myself to let her sleep on the floor, so I made an exception by letting her sleep on my top sheets while I slept underneath. I liked the feel of her body heat and the faint smell of icy vanilla that she gave off. It reminded me of something that I could not recall. It was like I had met someone with the some scent before but could not remember their name. It was a shame that my memories were fragmented as of last night, but I would worry about it later. For now, I just wanted to sleep.

For some reason, I was locked out of the Dream World that night. It was as if something was happening in my Dream Room that I wasn't supposed to witness yet. So for a majority of the night, I was suspended in a dreamless sleep that seemed to go on forever. But when I woke up the next day, I did not remember any of that, so there were no hard feelings.

I lied in bed for a while, looking up at the ceiling before I realized that there was something sleeping on my chest. Raising my head, I saw that Sirius the Flammie was snoozing on top of me, her gentle body heat keeping me warm through my single blanket.

She looked so peaceful lying there, curled up in a furry ball. I may not have dreamt last night, but I could only imagine the dreams that Flammies had at night. Her slow, steady breathing followed by the quick _thump tha-thump_ of her heart beating against my chest.

I figured I might as well wake the sleeping dragon. The consequences of this action probably wouldn't be as bad as waking a _real_ dragon, but I took caution in it anyway. Removing my hand from under the covers, I gently rubbed the joints between Sirius' wings. I realized then that she had grown another six inches overnight. She was now as big as a small Springer Spaniel but twice as cuddly.

Slowly, Sirius' eyes creaked open and I could see those adorable sapphire-blue irises looking back at me. With a smile, Sirius uncurled and stretched herself out like a cat, yawning widely. She then shook herself out like a dog and looked at me with a grin.

"Rye."

At first, I thought this was just some of her normal gibberish, but soon, I realized that she had said my name!

"What... did you say?"

Sirius lied down with her paws straight and looked directly at me.

"Rye."

"That's... what I thought you said. How do you know my name?"

Sirius rolled off my chest and sat up on her haunches like a dog waiting for a treat. "Sirius... Rye... Rye... friend."

Now amazed at her growing vocabulary, I slid out of bed and stood up, looking directly at her. "How did you get so smart so fast?"

This seemed to be funny to her because she giggled and crawled over to me, finally looking up at me. "Rye... friend! Sirius play Rye!"

Now completely lost, I sat back down on the bed and let her climb onto my lap. I wasn't sure of what to say. I had never had a pet _speak_ to me before. How do you respond to an animal that knows your name?

"Rye play! Play with Sirius!"

"Okay! I'll bite! What do you want to play?"

Sirius yipped at me and scampered down my leg in a flash. Within a few seconds, she was gone from my sight and was off in hiding.

"Find Sirius. Sirius hide! Rye not find!"

So it was Hide n' Seek, eh? Well, I was up for it. I chased after her in an attempt to find her.

For a pure-white Flammie, it was rather hard to find her. I checked all of the places where she could be hiding and still speak to me vocally -- under the couch, behind the TV stand, in my spare room and even in my bathtub -- but no Flammie. I was starting to think that Sirius was hiding downstairs and I had only _thought_ that I had heard her vocally.

But just as I was crossing my kitchen to reach the stairs, I suddenly froze up. I couldn't move a single muscle. Not only that, but I found it rather hard to breathe and it was absolutely _freezing_ in here! I didn't understand it! What was going on?!

"Sirius? Sirius, are you there?"

No answer.

"Okay, Sirius, I give up. You win. I'm scared now."

But the chilling feeling was creeping up my spine like an icy hand. There was _something_ here, but I couldn't see it. As soon as the chilling feeling hit my mind, I felt my vision go white. Everything that was around me vanished and I was standing in a white emptiness...

...but not for long. I found myself standing in a dark cave that had been sealed over with a boulder. Only a single shaft of light was making its way through the crack at the top.

Inside the cave, a large creature was curled up, sleeping peacefully. I couldn't make it out, but I felt that I had seen this creature before. However, it was far enough back that I could only see its outline. It seemed completely innocent.

But then like lightning, it awoke and sat bolt upright. It had gone asleep to aware in two seconds flat. It was looking at the entrance to the cave with a nervous air around it.

And then I heard it speak.

"No... not here... not now...! How did he find me...?! How could he...?!"

I was wondering what it meant when a force not unlike a small explosion tore through the boulder, destroying it on contact and allowing the sunlight to flood in. But the figure that was standing in its wake obstructed it from view once again.

It looked like a large, violet Flammie similar to Sirius, but _this_ one was not innocent-looking in the slightest. It was -- there was no other word for it -- evil. It had shadowy-violet fur and crimson hair. It also had clear-blue paws and talons and on each side of its mouth was one, but _two_ fangs. And the look in its piercing-red eyes told me that this was a Flammie of pure evil. And judging from the sick, sinister smile on its face, it was obviously up to no good.

Now that there was more light, I could see that the figure in the cave was also a Flammie, but this one was a dirty-yellow with pale-golden hair, pink pads, brown talons and only two fangs sticking out of its maw. Even though it was in such decrepit state (probably from a lack of moonlight -- I wasn't sure), her shining baby-blue eyes radiated a fear and a defiance I had never seen before.

For a moment, the two Flammies looked at each other with me standing in the middle. They seemed to be unaware of me even existing at all. I then realized that this was a vision, but I never knew that "I" was capable of clairvoyancy.

And then I heard the yellow Flammie speak.

"Mana..."

The violet Flammie continued to smile malevolently as he addressed the yellow one. "Seryn... my dear sister. How have you been?"

The Flammie known as "Seryn" frowned at her "brother". "You haven't changed since we last met, Mana. You still don't understand the value that humans put on life! You still think that they are just your minions to transform into Flammies as you please! You make me _sick_ to think that you're my brother!"

Mana closed his eyes and nodded, still smiling. He then clapped his paws slowly and flicked his tail behind him.

"Wow. You figured all that out just by looking at me. I'm impressed, Seryn. You seem to have me all figured out. I bow in your honor."

Seryn frowned as Mana gave a half-bow in mockery of Seryn's efforts and then chuckled at his actions. "You were always good for a laugh. But you never did answer my question: How have you been?"

I could see a few more of Seryn's fangs being bared as she growled at her brother. "Because of you and your flunkies, I've had to find a place to hide so that I could lay my eggs in peace. By now, there must be a good 200 of them flying around the state, infecting even more defenseless humans. I was just lucky that you took your time finding me so that my Flamelet could have a chance in this life. SO, HOW DO YOU THINK I'VE BEEN?!?!"

Seryn's sudden burst of frustration did nothing to affect Mana's cocky nature. He simply sighed and shook his head. "Temper, temper, Seryn. Yelling will get you nowhere in life. You should know by now that there are other ways to deal with your issues than by screaming. You disappoint me, scum."

At the sound of the word, "scum", Seryn's eyes flared with anger and hatred for her brother. I somehow know that she absolutely _hated_ it when he called her this, but for some reason, she did not attack him. She seemed to be contemplating the consequences.

Mana seemed to be reading her mind as he walked forward a few steps. "That's a good Flammie. Remember what happened the last time you lost your temper at me?" He twiddled his digits for a moment, and then sighed. "We don't want to go through that again, do we?"

Seryn would have loved nothing more than to throttle her brother, but something I could not understand prevented her from doing so. Mana walked forward a little more so that they were only ten feet from each other.

"I'm going to cut to the chase, Seryn. I know for a fact that you laid an egg containing the first Pure Flammie. I'm going to give you the chance to redeem yourself and hand it over to me willingly." He held out his paw as if to take something from her.

For the first time, it was _Seryn_ that was confident in herself. She looked at Mana' outstretched paw and started laughing. It started out low and then grew and grew until she appeared to be mocking her more-powerful brother.

Mana's patience was being tested. He put up with Seryn's antics long enough for his hatred for his sister started showing itself for the first time.

"What's so funny, Seryn?" he asked in a dangerously-calm voice. "Do I humor you? Is this all a joke to you? I asked you for that egg and I tell you again: hand it over."

But Seryn seemed to have broken a nerve in her mind. She continued to laugh insanely as if the lack of moonlight had broken her sanity.

"I can't, brother. You're too late! It's already in better hands and there's nothing you can do about it!"

Mana's patience was wearing thin. "Don't tell me you hid it. Because I _will_ find it and destroy it! I will not have a Pure Flammie rising up against me! Tell me what you did with it!"

Seryn was done laughing and was looking at Mana with a look in her eye that told me that she had completely cracked. "I can't tell you. It's out of my reach now. You'll just have to wait for i_t_ to come to _you._"

Mana had had enough. His eyes flared a bright-red and he thrust his paw out towards Seryn. She was grabbed in an unseen force and held up by her throat so that her footpaws were a few inches off the ground.

"Tell me where that egg is, you piece of inferior _scum!!!_ Tell me and I will make your passing that much more bearable! Where _is_ it?!"

But Seryn didn't seem to be completely there. Even though she was choking from the psychic force Mana was radiating, she was defiant to the end.

"You're... too... late... Mana! It's... hatched. You've... already... lost!"

Mana looked into her eyes as if to detect if she was lying, but he knew that every word she spoke was the truth. Even though she was half-insane at the moment, she would never lie when her life was on the line. He yelled out in frustration and rage and threw her to the side, where she landed in a heap.

"You have just made your final mistake, Seryn! It doesn't matter where you've hidden it -- I will find it! I will find that Pure Flammie and kill whoever is protecting it if they stand in my way!"

With a flap of his wings, he stormed out of the cave and motioned to someone just out of my sight. "Deal with her... and make sure she remembers it!"

Just then, my vision gave out and I was soaring back through the white void. When I slammed back into my body, my mind went completely white again.

"Rye? Rye! Rye wake up! Rye please wake up! Sirius not want Rye sleep now! Please Rye wake up!"

I could not remember a single thing of my previous encounter. I was lying on the floor of my kitchen without any knowledge as to how I had gotten here. I was being attacked by a small, moist object that I realized was Sirius' tongue. Opening my eyes, I found myself looking up into the eyes of Sirius the Flammie.

"Rye wake! Rye wake! What happen to Rye?!"

I sat up and rubbed my head. There was a small lump that hadn't been there before and it was smarting something fierce.

"Sirius? Oh... what hit me? I can't remember anything. I thought we were playing Hide n' Seek."

I noticed that Sirius had grown a _lot_ bigger in just a few hours. She was now as big as a full-grown Great Dane. I knew that Flammies grew like weeds, but this was ridiculous!

"Rye sleep much long! Sirius thought Rye not wake up!"

""Sleep long"? How long have I been asleep?"

Sirius looked up at the window where the moon was shining at its highest peak. "Sirius fly in moon three times plus before now."

"Four days?! I've been out for four days?!"

"Yes. Rye lie here four days. Sirius not leave Rye."

I got up and looked at by watch. Sure enough, it was either four days fast or I had been out this whole time. I wasn't sure what I was doing for the past 96 hours, but I had a lot of catching up to do.

Just then, I heard an explosion outside my window followed by the sound of people screaming. Something was going on outside and I wanted to know what. Running to the window, I saw that the neighborhood was in flames and half-decimated by some unknown force. People were screaming and there were large, shadowy figures flying in the sky. But I didn't need to be psychic to know that those were...

"Flammies?! Here?! What's going on?!"

Sirius bolted to my side and looked out the window as well. She seemed to be wondering what was going on as well, but then she looked like she had seen a ghost.

"They bad Flammies! They work for Mana! They looking for me! Rye hide me! Rye hide me!"

I had no idea who would want to find Sirius. She had only been alive for just five days... unless...

"Sirius... you didn't do anything wrong while I was out, did you?"

The white Flammie looked hurt. Her eyes started watering and she let out a sorrowful wail. "Waaah!!! Rye doesn't trust me! Rye think I do bad! Waaah!!!"

I immediately felt horrible. "Hey, I didn't mean that! I just wanted to know if there's anyone looking for you! I'm sorry!"

But Sirius was still feeling horrible for some reason. "Waaah! Bad Flammies do bad things to me if they find me! Rye please hide me!"

"Okay! I'll do it! Just stop crying so I can think!"

Sirius immediately shut up, but the fear in her eyes was still evident. At the moment, I was trying to figure out what to do. I didn't have a car and I couldn't go far in the town without attracting attention. I was at quite a crossroads.

But what I didn't see was a blue-furred Flammie looking through my window and then flying off to tell its superior. Just seconds later, Sirius' ears stood straight up.

"Oh no! They here! They find me!" She put her paws over her head trembled, crying, "Sirius not want to die! Please no hurt Sirius!"

I was about to ask her what she meant when my roof was literally blown apart! I dove to protect Sirius from the falling debris. A few chunks of roof hit me on the back, but I was hell-bent on protecting Sirius from whatever was looking for her.

When the chaos finally subsided, I looked at Sirius and smiled when I saw that she was unhurt. "Are you okay, Sirius?"

Sirius, however, was pointing a talon over my shoulder at the sky and squealing in fear. "Mana! Mana! It's Mana! Waaah!!!"

I immediately flipped over and looked up at the place where my roof had been. Hovering just a few feet above the remains of my one-story house was the biggest, darkest and most evil-looking Flammie I had ever seen.

This Flammie was about 15 feet from tip to tail and had a coat of shadowy-violet fur that was flowing in the wind. Instead of brown talons and pink pads, it had _blue_ talons and pads. Also, it had a mane of wild crimson hair along with crimson-tipped feathers on each of its wings.

And when I looked into its piercing-red eyes, I could see pure evil and pure power radiating from them. This was a Flammie who had an unquenchable hatred for the human race and would kill anyone unfortunate to get in its way.

"You! Human!" yelled the violet Flammie. "Give me the Pure Flammie and I will spare your life!"

I looked at Sirius, who looked scared out of her mind. She was so young... what had she done to deserve this Flammie's anger? She had been alive for only a few days and the only one she had been in contact with was me.

"Rye! Don't let them kill me! Sirius want to be with Rye!"

Even in the face of pure Fear, I was determined to protect her to the very end. I looked back up at the Flammie and challenged him.

"What makes you so special? You're going around killing humans because you can't find Sirius! You're no better than a common house dog!"

Sirius' eyes went wide. She obviously knew that I didn't know who this was. "Rye! That Mana! He bad Flammie! You not talk like that to Mana!"

Sure enough, "Mana" did not take this very well. He dropped out of the sky and slammed onto my floor with such force that some of my glasses in their cupboards flew dropped out and crashed to the floor.

"How _dare_ you speak to me like that, human scum! You do not have the _slightest_ clue who I am, do you?!"

I was scared, but I was willing to do anything to save Sirius. "Don't know... don't care." I crossed my arms and looked up at Mana with a stubborn look.

This seemed to infuriate Mana and I ended up paying for it. He lunged forward with his paw and wrapped his talons around my throat, lifting me clean off the floor with one arm. I was brought to his eye level, strangling and choking for my life.

"You do not know who you are dealing with, scum! I am Mana the Shadow Flammie! I am the Angel of Life and Death and you will show me some respect! You will do that or you will die a slow and painful death at my command! Tell me..." Mana looked at my struggling form in his paw while Sirius tried to reach me by jumping up and down fruitlessly from the floor below. "Do you fear Death?"

I tried to pry Mana's talons from around my throat, but his grip was solid. I was unable to budge him and I was losing oxygen fast. I had no choice but to give in.

"Yes... I... do..."

The sick, sadistic smile that appeared on Mana's face made me tremble in fear. I was losing consciousness, but I would never forget the evil look in his eye.

"Rye!" yelped Sirius, still trying to reach me. She couldn't reach me and her wings still weren't fully developed. "Rye not give up! Rye beat Mana! Rye please stay with Sirius!"

Mana frowned and looked down at Sirius. "Scram, you little white rat! I'll deal with you in due time!" And with that, he gave her a swift kick, sending the Flammie "flying" across the room and landing on my couch.

"Sir... i... us!!!" I tried to yell, but I was starting to black out from the lack of oxygen.

Mana turned back to me and smiled again. "She is no longer part of your life, human. For your cooperation, I will let you join my Flammie ranks as my slave. Do not speak. Let me deliver the Eternal Kiss to your pathetic human soul."

I watched in horror as Mana opened his muzzle, exposing very pointed fangs and pulled me close to them. I could see that he was going to wrap his muzzle around my throat and sink his fangs into my jugular. It was all over...

..."RYE!!!"

From out of nowhere, Sirius had launched herself at me and sank her _own_ fangs deep into my right leg. I screamed as a wave of icy chill hit my blood stream like a ton of bricks. I tried to shake my leg to get her off, but she held on tight for a moment to let all of her power seep into me before letting go.

Mana had halted in his advance and looked down at Sirius in annoyance. "You piece of filth! You've ruined it! Now I have no choice but to destroy it completely!"

I assumed that he was talking about me because he looked back at me and took a deep breath. I could see a shadowy mist appearing inside his muzzle like a rabid beast and I knew that he was going to kill me outright now.

But Sirius was not finished yet. Like lightning, she recovered quickly and leaped at Mana's hind leg, sinking her fangs into his flesh. The suddenness of this attack caught Mana completely off guard and he arched his back in pain, loosening his grip on me and dropping me about five feet to the floor below, where I crumpled in a heap, fresh, precious oxygen returning to me.

Mana roared in pain and started thrashing wildly, the not-so-little white Flammie still holding onto his leg. When he finally had the sense to stop moving, he looked down at Sirius and yanked her from his leg with his paw. He held her up to his eye level by the back of her neck and scowled at her.

"You little brat! Did you honestly think that biting this pathetic human and turning him into a Flammie-Human would save your _own_ life?! You are even weaker than I thought! I am going to destroy you right here and right now so that no one may stand against me!"

He made to breathe a breath of shadowy-violet mist at the wriggling Flamelet, but Sirius looked more defiant than I had ever seen her. "You pure evil, Mana! You not take Rye _or_ Sirius! We beat you when you least expect it!"

While tending to my bleeding leg, I could have sworn that I heard Mana laugh! "You?! You think you can protect him?! You're desperate! You would never survive against me!"

"Sirius may be small, but Sirius Pure Flammie! And Pure Flammie can do this!"

It happened so fast that I didn't catch all of it. All I saw was Sirius hawk up and appear to _spit_ in Mana's eyes, but I was sure that saliva did _not_ flash a bright white when it hit its target. Mana was taken off guard when the flash occurred and went stumbling backwards, yelling and screaming in pain.

"I can't see! I can't see! That little brat hit me with a Holy Breath! Shadow Flammies! Get them! Kill them both!"

I looked up and saw for the first time that there were two Flammies that were slightly smaller than Mana hovering above the ruined roof. One of them was red and the other one was a mint-green. They appeared to be waiting for their master's orders and sprang into action at his command. They started to fly down towards us, but against all odds, a beam of blue fire followed by a beam of liquid ice came out of nowhere and slammed into each of them in turn. The two "Shadow Flammies" crashed and burned on both sides of the flailing Mana, unconscious but alive.

"What?!" Mana flung his paws everywhere while his normally piercing-red eyes were covered by a white mist caused my Sirius' attack. "What happened?!"

"Mama! MAMA!!!" Sirius looked up and started jumping for joy.

I looked up and saw that a fifth Flammie had entered the fray. This one was considerably smaller than Mana but only slightly smaller than the two Shadow Flammies and was covered in creamy-yellow fur. I had a sudden case of deja vü as the Flammie descended into my house and turned to face us.

"Mama!" wailed Sirius, running over to nuzzle its "parent". "You come for Sirius!"

"Yes, I did." The creamy-yellow Flammie had a kind and considerate voice that was currently filled with concern. "I knew you were in danger and I've come to rescue you. Get in before it's too late!"

Sirius nodded and appeared to dissolve into what I assumed was a sphere of pure white energy. Her pure state then drifted into her parent's open mouth and disappeared when she snapped her jaws shut. At first, I thought she had been eaten, but the Flammie told me otherwise.

"Sirius is simply hiding inside my body. She is perfectly fine, but you are not. Get on my back if you want to live."

"Who's there?!" yelled Mana, stopping for a moment to sniff out the newcomer. "Wait... Seryn?! How...?! How'd you find this place?! You _couldn't_ have followed me! You're going to _pay_ for your interference!"

But the Flammie Mana had called "Seryn" simply turned to him and swung her tail in a complete roundhouse, catching him across the stomach and sending him crashing into his two cohorts.

"You will do no such thing, brother! You're reign of terror has gone too far! I may be retreating now, but I will soon return with my power at full strength! The True and Pure Flammies will defeat you one day!"

I was at a loss for words as I lied there, completely stunned. But before I knew it, Seryn had pressed two digits to the side of my neck and I collapsed from a pressure-induced sleep. I did not witness the events afterward, but later sources told me that Seryn had wrapped her front paws around my waist and carried me out of my house to a predetermined location.

As for what happened with Mana, the force of Seryn's attack had stunned him enough for us to get a decent head start on him. We were long gone before he could even recover.

My dreams were filled with fearful images. I could see Sirius being torn to a bloody pulp by Mana. Mana's muzzle was full of fresh, blue Flammie blood. Sirius was trying to fly away, but her wings were suddenly broken and she fell into a pit of jagged spikes. Seryn was being pummeled and punished by forces unseen until she was reduced to a spirit form. I tried to get away from the images, but they were not making it very easy.

And then, I found myself standing in front of the mirror in my former home. I was in complete shock at what I was seeing. Those hands... that skin... those (...)... It couldn't be! I was... I was... a...!

"SIRIUS!!!"

I sat bolt upright screaming in fear. I couldn't believe what I had just witnessed! It couldn't be true! I couldn't be that!

But then I finally figured out that it was all a dream. I knew that Sirius and Seryn were still alive and Mana couldn't find us.

By the way, were _was_ I? I realized that I was in a cave of some sort, but this one was not the one that I had first met Seryn in. The front entrance was _completely_ blocked and the only source of air or light was a series of small vents on the ceiling of the cavern.

I also seemed to be alone in here. No one had heard me scream and it was all but completely dark in here. I felt safe yet scared at the same time. I felt like I had been locked away from the world and that nobody was coming back for me.

But a sudden grinding noise from the entrance snapped me out of my grief. The boulder in front of the entrance was moving! I watched in silence as the boulder slid to one side with the massive creamy-yellow Flammie pushing on it. A familiar white furball squeezed through the crack that had been made and my mood lifted instantly.

"Sirius!" I tried to get up, but a sudden pain in my leg caused my knees to crumple and I was face-down on the floor of the cave. "Ow."

"Rye! Rye, are you okay?!" Sirius came running up to me and lifted me up delicately with her paws. "You didn't break anything, did you?"

"Nope..." I said, grimacing in pain. "I'm... unh... fine!"

Sirius, however, wasn't convinced. She laid me back on my back and caressed me with her gentle paws. "I'm afraid you're not in any kind of shape to be moving around. I think you'd better stay here for a while."

I sighed as her smooth pads ran over my cheeks. "Thanks, Sirius. I'm glad you're here for me."

A small chuckle echoed in the cave from the other Flammie. "It's funny, isn't it? Just yesterday, Sirius would have told _you_ that, but now you need her more than she needs you."

I turned to the Flammie, who had curled up around me to keep me warm. I could feel her soft, smooth fur trailing over my skin like a breath of wind. I then realized why I felt like this -- I wasn't wearing a thing!

"What the--?! Where are all my clothes?! I'm naked with two... female Flammies around me! I'm not decent!"

I made to get up, but Sirius planted a paw on my chest and pushed me back into her mother's furry side.

"Sit, Ooboo! You're not going anywhere in _your_ condition. You need to stay put or this might get a little ugly for you."

I stared at Sirius. "Are you threatening me?"

Sirius simply pressed her muzzle up against my cheek and gave me a little lick. "Not really. We just don't want you to go anywhere until after your... conversion... right, Mama?"

Seryn nodded and covered my body with a large, feathery wing. "Right. Besides..." she said, nuzzling my shoulder a little. "We don't mind your "indecent" state. We don't need to worry about anyone molesting you."

I gulped. "You two are making me feel a little uncomfortable. What did you do with my clothes?"

Sirius planted herself across my lap so that I was stuck between two Flammies and a soft place. "Those pieces of cloth were too damaged and bloody to leave on such a magnificent human. So, we got rid of them for you."

"You WHAT?!" I couldn't believe what they were saying!

"Relax, Rye. When we're through with you, clothes will become a thing of the past." I didn't like the satisfaction Seryn put into those words.

I had always heard of human harassing and molesting an animal, but I had _never_ heard of a case the other way around before. Were they going to...? I didn't want to think about it.

But Sirius didn't seem to have that on her mind. "Don't worry, Rye. We're just here to keep you comfortable while you're changing."

"Changing into what? In case you haven't noticed, I'm sitting buck naked in-between two giant feathered furballs here!"

Seryn and Sirius looked at each other and chuckled to each other. "He can't stop complimenting us, can he?"

Okay, enough was enough. I started to worm my way out from under Sirius's bulk and slid onto the cold cave floor. I tried to crawl away, but a sudden pain in my leg caused me to scream and hit the floor.

Sirius wandered over to me and put her paw on my back. "You shouldn't push yourself, Rye. This is _nothing_ compared to the pain you _could_ be in right now."

I gasped for breath and looked at her on my hands and knees. "What are you talking about? I'm in _agony_ here, if you haven't noticed!"

But Sirius simply wrapped her paws around my loins and pulled me closer to her warm, rugged chest. "Please stay with us, Rye. You may not understand this, but you're going to be in better hands soon enough."

I tried to understand what she said, but then, I felt my body seize up and go into shock. Sirius gasped and looked back at her mother. "Mom! It's happening! I have to do it!"

Seryn kept her cool and nodded. "Do it. He will understand."

I felt as if my entire body had gone completely numb and dead. I couldn't move and my mind had gone blank. But I could still see what was going on. And what I witnessed next only added to my fear.

Sirius sighed and turned me to face her. "I'm sorry, Rye, but I must do this. Forgive me."

Before I could ask, Sirius' mouth opened wide and she wrapped her muzzle around my head and shoulders. I had a sudden panic attack, but I couldn't scream for some reason. I couldn't believe it! She was _eating_ me! I was being eaten by a Flammie -- something I didn't think was remotely possible!

I could only watch as my head passed into her warm, moist gullet and I entered her throat. All the while, my chest was making its way into her mouth and with each gulp, Sirius was pushing me further and further into her stomach. Soon, all that was left was my feet, which Sirius slurped up with her moist tongue and I was fully encased by her esophagus. I was surrounded by a warm, moist tube before I was pushed into a dark, damp chamber somewhere in Sirius' gut. With each gulp, I was consumed more and more. Finally, I spilled all the way into her "stomach" and was completely encased by warm liquid.

I was in shock as to why Sirius would do such a thing to the one that had raised her from her egg. All I could do was endure the feeling of my legs and torso disappear into her digestive system. It felt like my body was disappearing completely, leaving a vague emptiness somewhere inside of me. That was the last thing I remembered...

...before I reawakened to the sound of distorted voices somewhere outside my chamber. I tried to listen, but I could barely move in here. There was a distinct light coming through the chamber, but that only added to my confusion. I thought I was inside Sirius' stomach. Why was there light here?

Also, I felt something that felt... strange, somehow. It was like something was on me that shouldn't have been, but I couldn't be sure. It felt normal, but it also felt strangely alien to me.

I tried to push out of my chamber, but there was a wall of solid... something in my way. I squirmed and writhed in my chamber until I was greeted by the sound of a distinct _crack!_ _That_ was the sound I wanted to hear! I pushed and shoved at my surroundings until my chamber broke wide open, sending fresh, clean oxygen back into my lungs.

When I tumbled out into the open, I suddenly had no memory of anything that had happened while I was locked in that chamber. It was as if my consciousness had been wiped clean, giving me a brand new life in which to take full advantage of.

My vision was a little blurry, but I soon managed to focus to my surroundings. I was in a large, dark room of some sort. I was unable to see far into it, but I could feel the presence of a pair of figures outlined in the shadows. The smaller of the two let out a small cry of excitement and bent down to pick me up. I saw the glittering orbs of two clear-blue eyes looking at me and I smiled and put my paws up for her to take me.

"Isn't he beautiful, Mom? My lovely little Rye is now my very own son. I have fully repaid my debt to him and now, I can take care of him just like he did with me."

Now that I could see who was talking, I could figure out where I was. The figure holding me looked just like me but had pure-white fur and silver hair with soft, clear-blue eyes. I looked at her like I had seen her before, but there was only one word that could describe her.

"Mama!" I tried to say, but all that came out was an odd wail. She seemed to understand me, though.

"That's right, Rye. I'm your mama now. We're finally a family again."

Mom looked to one side at the figure next to her and I saw that it was another... what did they call us? Flammies? Yeah... that made sense. I was a Flammie and so was my mom and my... I guess she was my grandmother.

Mom handed me to my grandma and she took me in her furry arms like holding a baby. She tickled my belly with a brown talon and I cooed a little and yawned widely.

"My name is Seryn, little Rye. And this is your mother, Sirius." She pointed to Mom and I smiled a little, showing my pointed white fangs.

(Author's Note: To avoid being formal for the rest of the story, I am going to use Seryn's and Sirius' names in place of "Mom" and "Grandma". It just sounds better is all.)

Sirius smiled in return, but then her expression fell. She suddenly seemed to have had a negative revelation when she had seen me smile. I looked concerned and started wriggling in Seryn's arms, trying to tell her to let me down. She did so and I went up to comfort her.

"Is something wrong, Sirius?" said Seryn, moving over to take her paw.

Sirius sighed. "Mana has been looking for him for so long. I don't know how we can keep hiding like this. He won't stop until he's found and killed me and Rye."

Seryn shook her head. "Mana won't be looking for us. He knows that it's only a matter of time before we return to his territory. Our best bet is to take care of Rye until he's old enough to stand a chance against Mana."

I couldn't understand what they were talking about, but whoever this "Mana" was was obviously giving them a hard time. I was too young to understand the going-ons of grown-ups, so I stayed out of it.

"You and Rye _will_ defeat Mana one day," said Seryn, putting her wings around her daughter's shoulder. "But until then, you need to stay with us in this world. Your people need you and I'm sure Rye will find something to keep him occupied for a while. Now..." She turned to me. "Would you like to meet your friends, Rye?"

I smiled and barked happily. I would love to meet other Flamelets like me and play with them. Sirius got over her mood and picked me up by the neck with her mouth and carried me out of the cave.

It turns out that a _lot_ of time had passed since I had been out in the world. I did not recognize my surroundings and a quick glance up at the sky told me that something was different here.

The "sky" -- if you could call it that -- looked like the surface of the ocean. It went up as far as I could see and ended with a liquid-like ripple on the top. It was soon apparent that we were living under the ocean. But how could that be? Why wasn't the water falling down all around us? What supernatural force could possibly hold the water above us?

"It's magic, Rye," said Sirius, setting me down on the "ground" and looking up with me. "A dear friend of my mother's managed to hide us away from the surface world and protect us from Mana's wrath."

"Maw-uh?" I said in an attempt to repeat the name.

Sirius nodded. "He's the most evil creature alive and he's all but taken over the planet. This is the only place where we are safe." She sighed and shook her head. "But don't worry about that. Go on and play with the other Flamelets."

I looked back in front of me and saw several various-colored Flamelets frolicking in a small wooded area and rolling a large blue-glass ball around to each other. I chirped and took off after them.

But when I got close to them, they stopped abruptly. They seemed to be looking at their new playmate in curiosity and were wondering if I was a friend.

Now that I had the time, I looked at my furry body for the first time. If I had to classify my coloring, I guess I would say I was "silver". My fur was about an inch long and every strand of it was a shiny, polished silver. But there were a number of slightly paler silver spots all over me that looked like stars to me. There was one on the back of my right paw, one over my left eye, several of them scattered around my arms, sides and tail. But one look at my wings told me that I was no ordinary Flamelet. Every hair and feather on each of my four wings was painted the most amazing flaming color you had ever seen in your life. I looked like a phoenix somehow, but the rest of my body was silver and star-studded. My paws, though, had a set of blue pads and my hair was so clear that it looked like I was wearing a mane of glass threads. I later found out that my eyes were inherited from my grandmother and were a soft baby-blue shade.

The Flamelets looked at me for a while while Sirius stood over me, waiting for one of us to make the first move. Soon enough, a curious green Flamelet had the courage to walk up to me and ask me a question.

"Are you... the Flammie Star?"

The name was unfamiliar to me and I simply tilted my head in curiosity. "Hmm?" I murmured and looked up at Sirius.

She smiled and put a talon in my glass-like hair. "There have been rumors about you that you would be born silver-and-flame-colored, young Rye. They've been calling you the "Flammie Star" as long as you've been in your egg. Don't worry about it. You're just like everyone else, so go off and play with your friends."

I blinked at this. She might not have been telling me everything she knew, but I was too young to understand it, so I simply walked forward and tapped the green Flammie on the muzzle.

"Tah!" I then took off running.

The green Flamelet looked at her friends and then smiled. "He's all right. Let's go get 'im!"

The other Flamelets cheered and took off after me. I seemed to have made a decent first impression and I now had someone to play with.

Sirius sighed and watched the other Flamelets play with me like I was one of the gang. She just wished that she could share in my enjoyment.

Later that day, I was off on my own in one of the underwater forests, casually going for a walk. Despite being at the bottom of the ocean, it was a relatively nice day. I was less than six hours old and my mind was full of curious questions. How could Flammies live down here without the ocean falling down on top of them? What caused the weather when you were miles under the sea? How long had we been living down here? What was the world like above the surface?

These questions and many more flitted around my young mind. But some of the more serious questions were ones that I couldn't get out of my head. Who really was this "Mana" and why was Sirius afraid to talk about him? And why did they call me the "Flammie Star"? Was there something special about me or what? I could not understand why I couldn't answer any of these questions just by walking here.

I sighed and decided to climb a tree. I was bored and the other Flamelets had gone off to play a different game. I was not interested in what they were playing, so I had decided to go off on my own. I had nothing better to do, so I chose to climb a tree for the fun of it.

While I was up here, I perched myself on a branch and looked up at the surface, wishing... dreaming that I could see what it was like. Why were the Flammies in hiding? Was Mana that bad of a threat or was there something more? sigh

As I sat here, I saw something rather odd, even for a colony of Flammies under the ocean. A small, shiny, steel-colored bubble was drifting down towards me. It looked slightly distorted from the rest of the ocean around me. I watched as it drifted lower and lower towards me until it was almost level with me and I could get a better look at it.

If silver metal could become a liquid without burning up, I guess this bubble could be that. It looked like molten lead without the "molten" part. The shiny steel surface gleamed with my upside-down image grinning back at it. It looked weird and I wanted to know what it felt like.

My common sense told me to leave it alone, but curiosity was getting the better of me. I reached up with a paw and poked it with a talon. I expected it to pop, but I was unprepared for what I felt. My talon went straight into the bubble like sticking your hand in a pool of liquid. And when I brought it back out, I was amazed at what I saw.

The tip of my talon was covered in what appeared to be a glossy, metallic paint but much thicker. It was silver in color and when I tapped it on my fangs, I saw that my talon was now made of metal.

But as I watched it, the silver color disappeared and left my talon as brown as ever. The only difference was that the metallic part of it remained, making it much harder than it was before.

Feeling a sense of curiosity, I thrust my whole right front paw into the bubble. The liquid that was coating it felt cold and it felt like my paw was melting. I pulled it out and looked it over. Every single strand of fur and every detail of my pad and paw was coated with the strange, silvery liquid metal. It felt like I was wearing a glove made of metal, but it wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be. In fact, it weighed just as much as my paw did normally. Weird. Not only that, but as I watched, the liquid coating disappeared, leaving my paw completely unmarked, but unmistakably made of metal. My fur looked just the same as it always did, but as I felt it with my free paw, it felt like I was touching something that was not quite water but not quite fur, either. Besides that, my talons and pads were now much, _much_ denser than before and could easily part human skin if it came to that.

Now feeling a sense of giddiness, I wanted the feeling of metal fur _ALL OVER_ my body. I was about to leap full at the bubble, but just before I could, the bubble drifted out of my range and my expression fell.

"Wait! I'm just playing with you! Don't go!"

The bubble froze at the sound of my voice. It seemed to be making up its mind to leave me. But when I heard a strange, distorted voice speaking from it, I thought it was a little out of the ordinary for a bubble.

"DO YOU WANT TO PLAY WITH ME?"

I looked at the bubble and nodded.

"I'VE BEEN WATCHING YOU FOR SOME TIME, RYE. YOU AND I COULD BE FRIENDS."

I blinked and responded, "Yes... I'd like that. I'd like a friend to play with."

"IF YOU AND I WERE TO GET ALONG, I COULD TAKE YOU OUT OF HERE IF YOU WANTED."

I wasn't sure I was hearing that correctly. "You can do that?"

"I CAN INDEED. IF YOU COME WITH ME, I CAN MAKE ALL OF YOUR WISHES COME TRUE. I CAN ANSWER ALL OF YOUR QUESTIONS IF YOU WANTED AS WELL. WHAT DO YOU SAY?"

I chirped and tried flapping my wings to get airborne, but they weren't fully grown in yet, so I didn't get anywhere.

"I'LL TAKE THAT AS A YES. HOLD STILL FOR A MOMENT."

I did so, watching the bubble curiously. it drifted a little higher before with a sudden _whomp,_ it popped. But the liquid didn't vanish. Instead, it seemed to form a splat pattern on the air just like what happens when paint hits the floor. Something unseen seemed to be messing with it because the paint splat was smeared around in a circle pattern with a star symbol laced with three diagonal claw marks going across it from the lower-left corner to the upper-right corner. I had never seen a symbol like that before, but that was not all.

The symbol lit up and I was suddenly looking into a portal that opened up somewhere above a mountainous region. It looked like the surface world and I was hoping that it led up there. I was spared the question of whether or not it was when a large, violet-furred paw stuck itself through the portal and motioned for me to take it.

This was a little confusing for me, but I reached up and took the paw. Sure enough, it was a Flammie paw, so I felt comfortable taking it. I had no sooner grabbed it than it pulled me forward, pulling me clean through the portal and into the mountain area.

When I emerged on the other side, I was able to look into the face of the Flammie that had pulled me through. It had violet fur, crimson hair and two pairs of fangs on the sides of his muzzle as opposed to my single pair. And when I looked into his eyes, I could have sworn that I had seen them before -- I just couldn't place where.

In the Flammie's other hand was a long, thick rod made of what appeared to be blue glass. Partway to the tip of it was a round notch that had the same symbol that had been on the portal. And at the tip of it was a brush of fine blue-glass fibers. But the rest of it was covered in something that looked like silver paint. If you asked me for my opinion, I guess I would have called it a giant paintbrush.

(Author's Note: That's _exactly_ what it is. It's the same paintbrush that Shadow Mario had in Super Mario Sunshine. I brought it into play, though, for a slightly different purpose than to cause a little vandalism.)

The Flammie carried the paintbrush in its paw like a staff and I wondered how it could have painted it on nothing but air. But I was more concerned with the Flammie itself. It seemed to be up to no good with that brush, but when it looked at me, it seemed to be rather harmless.

"Did you have a nice trip, Rye?" he asked in a casual tone, closing the portal with a swipe of the paintbrush. The paint on the end had become the same color and detail as the sky around us and removed it completely from view.

"I did, sir. It's rather nice to be on the surface for the first time."

The Flammie smiled and held out his paw for me to shake it. "That's good. I don't believe we've been introduced."

I blinked and then reached forward with my metallic paw. "Oh... I guess you can call me Rye. You seem to already know my name. What's yours?"

The instant I touched his paw, something like a flash popped in my mind, wiping a specific memory from my mind. I could not remember what it was now.

"They call me Mana. It's nice to meet you."

I was familiar with the name "Mana", but for the life of me, I couldn't back it up. I simply shook his paw and pointed to his paintbrush.

"What _is_ that? I've never seen a paintbrush that can manipulate reality."

"Oh, this?" Mana held up his brush and looked at it casually. "It's just a little magic that I managed to find during my reign. I call it the "Manibrush", or "Manipulation Paintbrush". With this, I can make all of my greatest desires come to life." He turned to look at me and pointed to my metal paw. "This is how brought you here and gave you a sample of its power. In fact..." He looked like he was up to no good. "Go ahead."

I blinked. "Say what?"

"Try and use that paw of yours to hurt me. Right here." He pointed to his throat. "I promise it'll be all right."

I had never been _told_ to hurt anyone before, much less a friend. "I don't want to hurt you..."

Mana chuckled. "You won't. Just go for it. I won't bite."

I gathered up all of my courage and went for it. I slashed my metal paw directly at Mana's jugular. I expected it to go straight through and slit him wide open, but that's not what happened.

Instead, the flesh on Mana's neck seemed to liquefy and bend around my metal talons. It looked like he was made of a cross between rubber and water. When it was all done, I hadn't made so much as a scratch.

"Whoa..." I said, looking from my paw to his untouched neck in disbelief. "What _are_ you?"

Mana smiled and ruffled my hair with his free paw. "I'm a real Flammie, if that's what you're asking. But I simply added a little... makeup and now, I'm all but untouchable. Nothing can hurt me and there is no way to kill me, even by traditional Flammie methods."

"Neat!" I said. "What else can you do with that brush?"

Mana grinned mischievously and brandished the Manibrush. "Hold still and I'll show you."

I gulped and held stock still. It was only now that I realized that my wings were flapping. Somehow, when I had been pulled through that portal, some kind of spell had been cast upon me. I shouldn't have been able to fly for about a week after I hatched, but Mana seemed to give me that ability faster than normal.

Mana fluttered backwards a little bit and held the Manibrush out like a staff. He then shifted his grip on it to a little further down and then made several slashing motions at me. With every motion, a splat of liquid-metal paint splashed on my body. The edges of the strokes did not go to waste, either. They simply wrapped themselves around my body like ribbons of silver material. Soon, my entire body was covered in the cold, silver paint.

I opened my eyes to look through the paint all over me. I looked like I had been dunked in a pool of liquid metal and then pulled out to dry. I tried to move, but the paint was a little stiff on me, restricting my movements for a moment.

"You might not want to do that," said Mana, shaking his head. "It won't set right if you move right now."

I remained still, the only part of me moving was my four feathery wings. I was confused as to how I could do this and not agitate the paint.

Soon, it felt like my fur was cracking and crystallizing. My whole body went stiff for a moment as the metallic paint set into every nook and cranny of my body. Soon, my natural coloring was restored, leaving me completely unscathed except fr the fact that I was now made entirely out of metal.

"There. You are complete. Your body is made out of 100 bio-metal and you are completely indestructible. You no longer need the moonlight to survive, either. The metal inside your body will give you all the energy you need."

I could not thank Mana enough for this gift, but he simply waved his paw and motioned to the mountains behind us.

"You don't need to thank me. I just have a little favor for you to do to make us even. But you must be beat. Why don't we head for the caves for tonight?"

I nodded and followed him to a cave deep in the cliffs around the mountains. Since I no longer needed moonlight, I could rest for the entire night to get ready for that favor that Mana had planned for me.

That night in the Dream World, I wasn't feeling as well as I should. My subconscious seemed to be falling apart from the metal that had seeped into my bloodstream. I kept hearing voices and memories flying around in my head before they seemed to become shredded and damaged to the point that I could no longer recall them.

The memories of raising Sirius from a tiny Flamelet were destroyed. The feeling of a Flammie's fur -- gone. Everything was gone, leaving only a blank void where one existence remained -- the presence of my master, Mana. I lived to serve him and I had no other purpose. And with this new, indestructible body, I could carry out his orders like they were the only things I lived for.

When I woke up that morning, the first thing I saw was Mana's piercing-red eyes. He was surrounded by a number of different Flammies that I had never seen before. When he spoke, his voice was full of malevolence and malice.

"Welcome back, Rye. Are you ready to fulfill your destiny?"

I had no emotion left in my heart except for that of obsession. I would only answer to one being now, and that was Mana. I nodded and got up. I was now completely refreshed. I would no longer sleep or eat. I would no longer trouble myself with pitiful emotions such as anger or sadness. I lived for just one purpose -- to destroy.

Mana smiled and looked at his Flammies, all of whom I noticed had the same pale-gray eyes that I did. Without a word among them, we all left the cave and took to the air. Mana had his Manibrush in his paw like always and soon, he would use it to fully conquer the world.

When we reached the spot where Mana had removed me from the Flammies' hideout, he handed the brush to me and smiled.

"You are the Flammie Star. You are the most powerful of all of us next to me. I think that you should be the one to launch the first assault."

I took the brush and nodded without a word. I painted the symbol of the Meta Flammies on the sky and opened a portal to the underwater utopia where the others were hiding out. Soon, it would all be ours...

(Author's Note: You may think that Rye is a robot now, but he's actually still alive and kicking. His body is now made completely of liquid metal and his mind has been taken over by Mana. Just food for thought.)

Back under the ocean, Seryn and Sirius were scanning the retreat for any sign of Rye. He had been gone for a number of hours and no one could remember seeing him for the past half a day. The Flamelets he head been playing told them that he had gone off into the forest for a walk, but that was the last they had seen of him.

Sirius was starting to worry. "How could he just disappear? This place isn't that hard to lose somebody down here." She looked at Seryn, who frowned.

"Something is not right here. Rye wasn't in the group last night for our moonlit flight and I haven't heard from him since yesterday afternoon."

There weren't that many Flammie-Humans down there and the Flamelets that had been born over the past five years were not exactly easy to lose. It alarmed Sirius that he could just disappear from the enclosure without anyone noticing.

"I'm going into the air," said Sirius, spreading her wings. "Maybe I can see something from up there."

Seryn nodded and watched her daughter fly into the artificial sky. She was just as worried as Sirius was about the missing Pure Flamelet, but deep down inside her, she knew that something was not right here. Nobody could just disappear down here -- the enclosure wasn't that big. It just didn't happen. She had a gut feeling that something outside of the enclosure was the cause of Rye's disappearance. She didn't want to think about the worst, but it was starting to get to her.

Sirius was gone for a good 15 minutes before there was a sound like a massive _whomp_ in the sky. It sounded like something had just exploded into the enclosure. She couldn't see through the thick trees, but she knew that something was not right up there.

Her fears were confirmed when Sirius came shooting back down through the trees, panting and shaking.

"Rye... he... they... I... how could...?"

Seryn grabbed Sirius' shoulders and forced her to look at her. "Sirius! What... happened?!"

Sirius was shaking visibly as she pointed straight up. Only three words escaped her muzzle. "They found us."

The next few minutes were little more than a blur to Seryn and Sirius. The Meta Flammies that followed Mana and Rye descended on the enclosure from the other side of the portal and began destroying everything in sight. The screams of the Flammie-Humans and the Flamelets tore through the air like shrieks of fury. The Meta Flammies took no prisoners as they continued their attack. They blasted the defenseless Flammies with breath attacks such as fire, ice, water and wind. The attack was so brutal that not one of them survived the onslaught.

Meanwhile, Seryn and Sirius had remained where they were, frozen in fear. They were too scared to try and escape the Meta Flammies and they felt helpless to try and help their kin. While they stood where they were, they could hear someone talking to another Meta Flammie as they walked through the forest.

"You did rather well for your first raid, Rye. I'm surprised at how little resistance was put up here. Now that the last remaining True Flammies and Flammie-Humans have been destroyed, I can start to repopulate the world with my synthetic creations. And it's all because of this..." He paused, apparently showing Rye something. "...that I can manipulate reality so effectively. You know... ever since I was reborn through that accursed human shell (Author's Note: Read "Fit for a God 3 Shadow Version" for details) I've done some serious thinking. The very idea of True Flammies and Flammie-Humans living in this world has begun to bore me. I will recreate the world with my very own synthetic Flammies. Not only that, but I feel that the whole flesh-and-blood concept for this world is outdated. Together, you and I will recreate this world to be entirely handmade by my paw. There will be no real life here -- only the synthetic lifeforms that you and I will create. What do you think of that?"

Seryn and Sirius didn't need to listen much further. They knew who that voice belonged to. It was Mana -- the Flammie that had forced them to go into hiding. He had obviously obtained an even greater power than his own in the five years they had been apart and now, the whole world was in danger. They couldn't believe that he had kidnapped and corrupted Rye -- the one who had cared for them and they cared for in return -- and turned him into what he called a "Meta Flammie". It was just too unbearable.

"We've got to get out of here," whispered Seryn to Sirius. "If we don't warn the world, we've as good as lost."

Sirius nodded shakily. "I can't believe that we have to fight my best friend and son. It's just not fair! What could Mana be thinking out there?"

But Seryn shook her head. "We don't have time for that. We have to leave now."

Against their better judgment, the two of them took off and headed for the portal in the sky that the Meta Flammies had come through. Sirius used her powers of Light to disguise them both from the others. The only way that they would be spotted would be if Mana himself looked right at them. Thankfully, they made it back to the surface world without being noticed. Sirius then blew a gentle yet powerful Holy breath on the portal, creating a barrier that would hinder Mana's return but not stop it. It would buy them enough time to try and go for help.

Sirius was speechless as they flew over the mountains to look for help. Her guardian and son had been corrupted against them. Innocent Flammies had been killed in cold blood and the most evil creature in existence had gotten a hold of a power capable of ruling the world. No matter how she looked at it, it all came to one inevitable conclusion...

...it was war.

To be continued…

Coming soon from shadowlugia249:

"Flammie and Glory 4.5: The Flammie War" -- The final chapter

"Flammie and Glory 5 Sol Version: Pygmy Problems" -- Seryn's Story

"Flammie and Glory 5 Luna Version: Mana Madness" -- Mana's Story

"A Dragon's Tale: The Novel" -- A Magic Shop Book remake


End file.
